Editorial: Use tests as tools not proof of failure

By Halifax Media Group

Published: Saturday, October 12, 2013 at 08:46 PM.

To compete in the global economy, students need to keep up with their peers in other states and around the world. We know that North Carolina students have not performed as well as their counterparts in the top states on national tests, but they have been gaining ground.

But we must use testing to identify where students and schools can improve, not to vilify or punish schools with lower student performance that is largely tied to demographics. The education level of a child’s parents and the demographic makeup of the schools he or she attends are the most consistent predictors of academic success, according to numerous studies. While standardized tests are designed to measure large numbers of students against a single set of criteria, each student brings different experiences, challenges and innate abilities.

We test the masses, but to be successful, education must focus on the individual child. What the state board should insist upon is measurable growth for each student, with the ultimate goal being that every student who is capable needs to reach that bar, or beyond.

This editorial first appeared in Wilmington’s StarNews, a member of the Halifax Media Group.

The State Board of Education resisted the temptation to lower the bar on still-unreleased test scores that state officials warn will show a significant drop in student proficiency.

Rather than lowering the bar, North Carolina must continue working toward higher expectations for all students.

As painful as the process may be in the short term, the board’s decision will be better for the state in the long run — as long as public schools are given adequate time and furnished with the proper resources to achieve those goals.

The state Department of Public Instruction already has warned that the 2013 standardized test scores will be lower — a lot lower — than in previous years, when students were measured under a different set of tests in selected subjects. Beginning last year, state tests were developed for every subject and questions written to the new Common Core standards that North Carolina and many other states now use as a single measure for public school students.

According to preliminary scores, in most grades fewer than half of North Carolina’s students scored proficient under tests given last May and June. The exceptions were in eighth-grade science and high-school English. The scores no doubt will dishearten educators and parents given consistently rising test scores under previous state accountability tests. But as a DPI official noted, lowering the minimum scores for proficiency would mean that some students would be marked proficient even if they weren’t.

We have to deal with the reality that is before us, not gloss over it by grading on a curve. The scores do indicate that our students have a long way to go. But they also reflect that the tests and the standards are new; teachers and students will need time to adapt. The key is in how our state will use the test scores.

The Common Core, which has been greeted in education circles with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation, is designed to ensure that students in the states that participate are being taught to a common standard. The standards are tougher, and that’s a good thing. When each state sets its own standards, there is bound to be a broad disparity in what is considered proficient, leading to wide variations in how well prepared students are for college or the workforce.

To compete in the global economy, students need to keep up with their peers in other states and around the world. We know that North Carolina students have not performed as well as their counterparts in the top states on national tests, but they have been gaining ground.

But we must use testing to identify where students and schools can improve, not to vilify or punish schools with lower student performance that is largely tied to demographics. The education level of a child’s parents and the demographic makeup of the schools he or she attends are the most consistent predictors of academic success, according to numerous studies. While standardized tests are designed to measure large numbers of students against a single set of criteria, each student brings different experiences, challenges and innate abilities.

We test the masses, but to be successful, education must focus on the individual child. What the state board should insist upon is measurable growth for each student, with the ultimate goal being that every student who is capable needs to reach that bar, or beyond.

This editorial first appeared in Wilmington’s StarNews, a member of the Halifax Media Group.